THE DIVERS. 
T77 
Eggs. One. Pure white, and nearly pyriform _ in shape. 
Axis, i'59-i'8i inch; diani., ria-i'aS 'inch {Ogilvie Grant). 
THE DIVERS. ORDER COLYMBIFORMES. 
The skeleton of the Divers shows a very well-marked and 
curious character in the extension of the cnemial process of the 
tibia. The posterior process of the ilium is also approximated 
to such an extent that the sacrum is almost entirely coiicealed. 
There are no anchylosed vertebrae in front of the anchylosed 
sacral vertebra, and the median xiphoid process of the sternum 
projects behind the lateral processes. The number of cervical 
vertebra: is fourteen or fifteen. ^ j • i 
The palate is schizognathous, and there is no defined spinal 
feather-tract on the neck. Poth the ambiens and femoro- 
caudal muscles are present. 
Besides these anatomical characters, the Divers are easily 
recognised by their long pointed bills and webbed feet, the 
hinddoe being on the same level as the other toes. The 
tarsus is compressed, and the feet have a curious backward 
position, so that it is impossible for the birds ever to stand 
uprierht on them. Considerable discussion has recently taken 
place on this subject both in England and America, but the 
entire concensus of opinion among field ornithologists of the 
present day appears to be that the Divers never attempt to 
walk, and that the most they can do on land is to shuffle to and 
from their nests widi a seal like motion of their bodies. I have 
been permitted by Mr. Abel Chapman to use the notes on the 
subject which he forwarded to our mutual friend Mr. Howard 
Saunders. 
He writes : — “ Loons and Grebes never sit upright on land. 
First, because they never go on to land, properly so called ; 
and secondly, because they cannot sit upright if they tried ever 
so. Their legs will not bend that way. Cullingford* tells me 
that he always has to break the bones of the birds’ feet when 
people insist on having their specimens mounted in an upright 
Dosition.” After some criticism of the figures in Yarrell’s 
“ British Birds,” and those in other works on natural history, 
* The well-known taxidermist of Durham. 
15 
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